Before 'Game of Thrones', 'House of Cards' and 'Breaking Bad', there was Shakespeare’s 'Macbeth'.
Of all of life’s intoxicating temptations, the thirst for power is perhaps the most fraught with moral dilemmas. Power must necessarily come at the expense of others. 'Macbeth' examines the price some are willing to pay but also ultimately the cost that is inevitably incurred.
As with the State Theatre Company of South Australia’s production of '1984' earlier in the year, their production of the Bard’s Scottish play is a work that is as pertinent in 2017 as it was at the time that it was written, as Director and STCSA Artistic Director and Co-CEO Geordie Brookman explains.
“I think you could attach ['Macbeth'] to the political climate of just about any country at the moment, whether you are looking at the power for power’s sake that we see with the Republican Party and Donald Trump in the US or I’d actually argue that we have a Prime Minister who’s in a pretty similar situation, you know, someone who has largely let go of their ideological beliefs for the sake of hanging on to power.”
“I think that’s why this play endures, because it taps a really essential part of human nature, which is just how attractive power can be.”
Literary scholars have debated whether the doomed Scottish king truly is a tragic figure, in the same sense as Romeo and Juliet or King Lear. While Macbeth does begin the tale as a revered and accomplished soldier, he swiftly acclimatises to his role as the dictator of an oppressive totalitarian regime. If Macbeth is a tragic figure, are Hitler and Stalin also? Geordie explains the tragedy of the titular character.
“You could kind of argue that it’s a play about post-traumatic stress.”
“You see the absolute destruction of someone who we’re told at the start of the play is the ultimate warrior.”
Geordie explains how the setting of the play will visually convey the steady escalation of torment upon the ruler’s ravaged mind.
“It’s very much a contemporary urban setting. Most of it takes place in this room that feels a little like a bunker or even a disused mortuary. There’s a pattern in the play where Macbeth gets surrounded more and more by the dead as he destroys more lives and we wanted to create a space which gave people a feeling of being trapped within Macbeth’s own psychosis.”
Having had their first outing in 'A Doll’s House', this will be the second play for the State Theatre Company’s Creative Ensemble. Geordie is excited about hitting the rehearsal space again with a familiar cohort of actors.
“It means we’ve already got a real shorthand developed and I guess that everyone’s match-fit as well.”
Geordie is not a superstitious man and plans to shout the play’s title loudly and fearlessly during rehearsals. He has a gripping ride planned for audiences.
“Once the audience is in, I want the play to pick them up by the scruff of the neck and not let them go until it’s finished.”
